I am a self proclaimed night owl.

Here I am, listening to some Bruno Mars and updating you on what I have been up to.  Last we left I was getting ready to make my cupcakes and jello shots for our luau party we were going to.  My friend Morgan and I had a great time making our Pina Colada Cupcakes.  Boy did they come out great!  We made a basic yellow cake with some rum extract in them.  Then we made a filling to inject them with a pastry bag. We diced up some fresh pineapple, mixed it with a large box of vanilla instant pudding mix and folded in some cool whip.  We had lost some of our pineapple flavor so then we pureed some pineapple and folded that in, bam, it was back!  Then we made a butter cream frosting and added coconut extract to it.  It was good but decided that next time we would use some coconut milk instead to get a creamier frosting.  We finished it off with some toasted coconut and a slice of pineapple that had been soaked in rum.

For the Jello, I diced some strawberries and soaked them in rum (one of my fav's can you tell?) Then I made some blue jello, substituted the cold water for chilled rum (of course).  I used a turkey baster to fill just past the top of the strawberries with the jello mixture and let set.  After they were set we used the baster to fill the cups the rest of the way.  When all set I inserted mini Swedish Fish so they looked like the were swimming in the cup.  The strawberries were my coral reef.  Needless to say they were a hit!

Last Tuesday's Soups and Sauces I have to say I learned a valuable lesson.  Well two.  We spent the day on soups.  We made Shrimp Bisque, French Onion, Potato and Leek, and Split Pea.  I made the potato and leek and the split pea.  And this is where the lesson began...don't add spices in at the end of your soup.  I learned there is a window that food can take in flavor and once the window is closed the flavor just sits.  My split pea was doing fine until the end.  I make split pea fairly often at home but did something different this time (still not sure why but I did).  I had added in some chipotle into my soup as it was cooking to get some smoky flavor in it but then gave it a small last dose at the end and ruined it.  It didn't get the chance to blend into my soup. As Chef said, it tasted like dirt.  Earthy.  Not the flavor I was going for needless to say.  After some time of beating myself up about it I realized I learned a very valuable lesson, it wasn't so much not to troll the spice rack so much as it was that I was there to LEARN and not do my own thing.  It is a hard lesson when you are use to cooking in your own kitchen and not in someone else's.  Now I am grateful to my mistake.  It is one I won't make (hopefully) again.   Thank you Chef for teaching me rule's # 10 ( taste everything, twice) and 15, we don't say #15, but for those of you who read and aren't in culinary school, it starts with an H and rhymes with bumble.

Baking Basics has been pretty basic.  I am a baker so a lot so far has been familiar to me, cookies, muffins, and pies.  Last week I got to make ice cream, cinnamon, and it was really good.  Wish I had the machine to make it at home.  This Friday is my midterm, a drop cookie, sugar or chocolate chip, a muffin, not sure which kind yet, and a tart made with sweet pastry dough and pastry filling.  I am planning on bringing my own pan and fruit to top it.  I am also going to practice making the glaze to go over my fruit to make it sparkle.  We didn't learn the glaze in class but the recipe is in my book so I am going to do it.  It is the midterm after all, so why not try my best to knock it out.  I am making it on Wed at home and will let you know how it goes.

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